John Law (1745–1810) was an English mathematician and clergyman who began his career as a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, and went on to become chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Church of Ireland bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh (1782–1787), Killala and Achonry (1787–1795), and finally of Elphin (1795–1810). He was a lifelong friend and correspondent of the philosopher William Paley. Early life The son of Edmund Law, later Bishop of Carlisle, and Mary Christian, Law was born at Greystoke in Cumberland, where his father was rector. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Christ's College, Cambridge, where in 1766 he graduated Bachelor of Arts with first-class honours in the Mathematical Tripos and was named as second Wrangler. He proceeded Master of Arts in 1769. Career Law became a Fellow of Christ's and an Anglican clergyman, and spent several years as a tutor and lecturer at Cambridge. In 1773 his father gave him his first benefices, as vicar of Warkworth, Northumberland, and as prebendary of Carlisle. In 1777 he was collated Archdeacon of Carlisle. In April 1782, he went to Ireland as chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, who had large estates in Cumberland. Law was quickly nominated as Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh on 26 July 1782 and consecrated on 21 September. The same year, he graduated Doctor of Divinity. The appointment to Clonfert was unexpected. It was later reported that the Duke of Portland, after a long legal battle with Sir James Lowther over estates in Carlisle, was anxious to reward a man who had helped him in that matter with other preferments then held by Law. Law was a lifelong friend of William Paley, with whom he corresponded for decades. Paley and Law had been friends at Cambridge, where Law lectured on mathematics and Paley on metaphysics and morals. When Law became Bishop of Clonfert, Paley was his successor as Archdeacon of Carlisle, and it was the urging of Law which led Paley to expand his Cambridge lectures into his book The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785). In that work, the chapter on Reverencing the Deity was ascribed to Law. Among other matters, they corresponded on the scientific proofs which could be used to support a theological argument. In 1797, for instance, Law wrote to Paley: "In your chapter on divine contrivance, you must have an